The integrated shipboard system, which combines an Iridium Pilot unit with a KVH TracPhone V3-IP terminal, provides reliable, affordable voice and data connections from pole to pole by switching seamlessly between the mini-VSAT Broadband and Iridium OpenPort services. The network management functionality in KVH's Integrated CommBox ™ Modem (ICM) automatically selects mini-VSAT Broadband or Iridium OpenPort using intelligent least cost routing functionality. If mini-VSAT Broadband service is ever unavailable, the system immediately switches the onboard LAN and Wi-Fi networks to the complementary Iridium OpenPort broadband service, and back to mini-VSAT Broadband when it becomes available again, all without operator intervention.

"We are enthusiastic about the expansion of our partnership with KVH," says Bryan Hartin, Iridium's executive vice president, sales and marketing. "We recognize the market's desire for an affordable turnkey complementary component for VSAT service and have collaborated with KVH to deliver a solution that eliminates coverage gaps and offers an alternative to the high prices of competing maritime satellite networks."